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A dynasty renewed, with no end in sight

DOUG SEGREST
Published 1:03 a.m. CT Jan. 12, 2016

Alabama linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton (20) celebrates with teammates following the College Football Playoff Championship Game on Monday January 11, 2016 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Az. (Mickey Welsh / Montgomery Advertiser)(Photo: .)

Alabama became the first modern college football program to win four national titles in seven seasons after enduring three years of hearing how the Crimson Tide and head coach Nick Saban had lost the magic.

You want magic? Alabama 45, Clemson 40. That’s magic, for this wasn’t the title game blowout Crimson Tide fans are accustomed to. This was survival.

This championship run turned, not in the desert of Arizona, but on a humid night in Tuscaloosa back in October, with quarterback Jake Coker benched and glaring from the sideline at the start of an eventual 43-37 loss to Ole Miss.

And so the obituary of a dynasty was written that evening. RIP, Alabama Dynasty, 2009-12.

And so it began again. Coker was the obvious weakness why Alabama couldn’t contend for another national title. He was too slow on his delivery, too long on his windup, too indecisive on decisions. The loss was beamed coast to coast, as Alabama discovered a gritty quarterback and a team found a leader.

The journey culminated with a career night in his final collegiate game, with Coker throwing for 335 yards and two touchdowns against Clemson.

Still, this was about so much more than the redemption of one player.

It was about a team that played with its back to the wall through 12 straight wins. Challenges were shrugged off. Surrendering a late lead to Tennessee was answered with a Coker-led march down the field for the winning points, throwing the characteristic Lane Kiffin back-shoulder passes he was known for with Heisman Trophy quarterbacks at USC.

Monday night provided the stiffest challenge of all. Clemson, ranked first, undefeated and playing on the sport’s biggest stage for the first time in two generations, would not go quietly.

Alabama didn’t suffocate and punish the Tigers. Saban didn’t simply outcoach Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who found himself in college football’s biggest game for the first time since he was a Crimson Tide wide receiver 23 years ago.

Instead, Alabama grabbed momentum in the most unlikely way: With an onside kick that caught Clemson, the crowd and a television audience off guard. It came with the game tied 24-24. Alabama would never put the Tigers away, but the gamble paid off with a lead that would not be relinquished.

Everyone knew the puzzle for Alabama to fall. The biggest piece was Deshaun Watson. If Alabama’s Achilles’ heel was the mobile quarterback, Clemson’s Watson struck like a legion from Sparta. He threw for 405 yards, ran for 73 more and eluded Alabama pursuit by biding time and creating opportunities for 60 minutes.

But there’s more to the puzzle than that, a fact that often gets lost in the narrative.

There is the collapse of special teams and field goals missed at critical moments. Except there was but one Adam Griffith miss, and it came early. To make up for that, it was Griffith who perfectly executed the unexpected onside kick.

And it was Kenyan Drake who bolstered Alabama’s biggest advantage, special teams, with a 95-yard kickoff return.

In the battle of turnovers – another key to the Alabama Fail Package – the advantage was Crimson. Zero turnovers to an early Watson turnover.

Add O.J. Howard, the enigma in an NFL-body tight end, turning in a career-high 208 yards in receptions; Derrick Henry’s 158 yards rushing on 36 workhorse carries; and a plethora of defenders making big plays at critical times.

The dynasty was restored by surviving the greatest challenge to date.

Even Saban smiled for the camera and admitted that this may be his favorite team of all time. Why not? This was a team that had the most holes going in, but had a mission. Critics talk about the abundance of the five-star recruits – as if all great recruiting classes reel off multiple national titles. This team refused to give up on a season when everyone else pondered an end to an era.

You can count national titles using Alabama’s math (16) or ESPN’s (11 in the poll era). Regardless, Alabama has more than anyone anywhere else.

It has had dynasties under coaches ranging from Wallace Wade to Frank Thomas to Bear Bryant.

But the Saban Dynasty is the most remarkable of all, because it came in the toughest era of competition in the shortest time period on record -- at least since the advent of television.

The dynasty, given up for dead, is very much alive and historic with no end in sight.